Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Julian Assange: Hero or Terrorist?
Liberty Juice ^ | 12/09/2010 | Chris Bounds

Posted on 12/09/2010 5:45:52 AM PST by ChrisBoundsTX

The legal net is closing in on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. While he has not been officially charged with anything he remains in custody to discuss the sexual assault allegations from Sweden with British police. Now being held without the opportunity for bail Assange is fighting extradition while his troubles mount from every direction. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks continues to dump stolen State Department documents online and is keeping a “poison pill” on standby should the need arise.

This whole issue with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange has me torn. As a conservative constitutionalist I proudly champion the First Amendment rights of free speech and free press. But is that really what we are dealing with here? Is Assange merely a whistleblower, a messenger trying to promote transparency in government? Or is he an anti-government terrorist with motives to harm the United States government and other world governments in order to create chaos and anarchy?

First, let’s take a look at the legal issues Assange faces in Sweden. The allegations as I understand it are a bit suspicious. Make no mistake, I absolutely do not agree with Assange’s WikiLeaks project or his eagerness to entertain any woman that pleases him. Nevertheless, when you review the timeline of events disclosing the multiple relations Assange had with the two women making the allegations there are numerous questions left unanswered. That is likely why Assange has not been charged with anything, yet.

The short story of the timeline is that Assange had consensual relations with two women during his stay in Sweden. The first woman involved in the case, a far left feminist, sent out a Tweet saying “Sitting outside … nearly freezing, with the world’s coolest people. It’s pretty amazing!” She was referring to the party she threw for Assange. Interestingly enough this took place after the last sexual encounter the couple had together. Some might think that it would be a bit awkward to throw a party for the person who sexually assaulted you the night before. She later attempted to erase that tweet.

The second woman involved is someone who sought out Assange’s eye at the conference he attended with the first woman. She apparently succeeded. They spent some time together after the conference, but Assange had to go to the party the first woman was throwing for him. However, the young lady did not want to let her big fish go easily so she purchased train tickets for them to go back to her place. That is where the sparks flew.

The morning after the romantic evening Assange had with the second woman they had one play session in bed before heading out for breakfast. After a nice meal together they parted ways and Assange promised to stay in touch. Again, she paid for his train ticket since he feared he was being tracked by the CIA.

No big deal, right? In America probably not, but Sweden is a country that prides itself on its tough sex laws. I left out two key details that give the case traction. Allegedly Assange’s condom broke with the first woman and he did not use (or refused to use) a condom during the last encounter with the second woman. So although both women seemed to have cordial relations with Assange after their “sexual assault” laws in Sweden given them grounds for a case.

So the big question is did Mr. Assange run into bad luck with his consecutive one-night stands or is he being set up? Many now are suggesting the latter, citing political revenge for his WikiLeaks document dump. The devil is in the details and much more will likely be revealed in the coming days and weeks. If you want to read the full timeline of events you can read it here, here, or watch it here.

I have no idea if Assange was set up or if he is suffering from the consequences of sinful sexual promiscuity. Maybe he should have sent them each a loving text message to tide the ladies over until they could meet again. Or maybe he was playing a rigged game the entire time. I certainly hope the conspiracy theories surrounding this part of Assange’s problems are proved to be false because the more serious matter is WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks has had its hosting service revoked and its website hacked, but it continues to dump the secret and classified documents that were stolen by Private First Class Manning. Recently documents that were released by the website listed facilities all over the world that are vital to U.S. security. Gee, that’s just great!

What is worse for the United States is that Assange is holding the detonator on his insurance policy should things for him make a turn for the worse. In what amounts to global extortion, Assange said he holds the key to a 256-bit encrypted file that on his command will release 1.4 gigabytes of damaging documents involving financial institutions, oil companies, and the government. The full release of this file is what Manning said would cause “world-wide anarchy.”

It is clear that Assange has no intentions of trying to promote government transparency. Everybody knows the government has been lying to the public. That is not acceptable, but we have a process for dealing with that type of mess. The recent emergence of tea parties and 9/12 organizations is a clear example of ways to promote transparency without bringing down the house. What Assange is trying to do is cause chaos and anarchy, not for transparency but for the destruction of governments – namely the United States government. Rich Lowry from the National Review elaborates:

"Julian Assange: Hero or Terrorist?Assange is an equal-opportunity America hater. It doesn’t matter if our president is black or white, left or right, with the middle name Hussein or Walker, so long as he’s leader of the country Assange perversely calls a threat to democracy, even as he provides aid and comfort to our violent, undemocratic enemies overseas."

"The classic justification for a leak is to expose malfeasance. In all his tens of thousands of released documents, Assange has exposed none, despite his typically delusional boast that the first dump revealed “thousands” of possible war crimes. Assange’s goal is wanton destruction, pure and simple."

"He wants to expose to retribution those who cooperate with us on the ground in war zones. He wants to undercut domestic support for our wars. He wants to embarrass our foreign allies and exact a price for their trust in us. He wants to complicate sensitive operations like securing nuclear material in Pakistan and attacking terrorists with missiles in Yemen."

The latest actions by WikiLeaks and others reacting to the story are proving Lowry’s comments to be accurate. WikiLeaks recently stated, “This is a turning tide and starting a trend that you can’t really stop unless you want to shut down the Internet.” Hackers are battling it out in cyberspace in support of or attacking WikiLeaks. Wiki-supporting hackers were able to temporarily shut down Visa, Paypal, and MasterCard. Chaos is already brewing and the so-called ‘poison pill’ has note even been released!

Surely Assange is proud of the damage he has done. That leads me back to the question I posed earlier. Is Julian Assange simply a whistleblower that should be applauded for his courage? Or is he a terrorist bent on creating chaos and anarchy to destroy the United States government and other government institutions?

I’ll let you decide, but I want to close with one final point. Trust that WikiLeaks will make good on its promise to push past this “turning tide.” Whether or not Assange releases the ‘poison pill’ all at once or in bits and pieces over a period of weeks and months we may soon find out if Manning was over exaggerating when he said the release of the entire database would cause “world-wide anarchy.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Conspiracy; Government
KEYWORDS: assange; espionage; sweden; wikileaks
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

1 posted on 12/09/2010 5:45:56 AM PST by ChrisBoundsTX
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: ChrisBoundsTX

He’s an anarchist scumbag.


2 posted on 12/09/2010 5:49:46 AM PST by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ChrisBoundsTX

Goverment stooge.
President Turtle On A Fencepost gave him all the stuff being leaked.


3 posted on 12/09/2010 5:51:45 AM PST by winodog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ChrisBoundsTX

I think they are holding him without bail to keep him alive.


4 posted on 12/09/2010 5:58:28 AM PST by B.O. Plenty (Give war a chance...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ChrisBoundsTX
There is one very SERIOUS problem with this article.

First Amendment rights apply only to Americans while in/on American sovereign territory. It applies no where else in the world.

Like most lawyers and liberals (is there a true difference between the two any more?) the author thinks that the freedom of speech is an international right. He fails to realize that there are millions of graves around the world and through out history marking the end of people who thought the same thing he does.

Unfortunately, we seem to protect fools like him.

5 posted on 12/09/2010 6:00:11 AM PST by Nip (TANSTAAFL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nip

I understand that our Constitution applies only to Americans. That doesn’t stop the fundamental ideas in it from being pushed elsewhere in the world. I am pointing out the two main arguments being pushed.


6 posted on 12/09/2010 6:03:00 AM PST by ChrisBoundsTX
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: ChrisBoundsTX

This Assange appears to be working for/protecting Obama. Look at his targeted attacks on Hillary and Sarah Palin, for example. There is a lot more to this story than appears at first. I am waiting for more information to come out. Meanwhile his “arrest” is under extremely odd circumstances and he is being held by folks whom Obama has gone out of his way to insult — the Brits!!! It seems they hold the prize. Look deeper!!!!


7 posted on 12/09/2010 6:06:05 AM PST by browniexyz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: winodog
A rape charge in .... Sweden?

Sweden and Norway are the rape capitals of the world with Muslim immigrant jihadists dragging their fair young damsels into the bushes at regular intervals ... about which the "authorities" are doing largely nothing.

8 posted on 12/09/2010 6:06:56 AM PST by Kenny Bunk (America can survive fools in office. It cannot long survive the fools who vote for them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ChrisBoundsTX
The agents who facilitate the delivery of material stolen or found by spies are as guilty as the spies. Usually, these spy handlers or couriers deliver the information discretely to the enemy.

The fact that these were released publicly for personal gain does not make it any less a crime.

His threat to release, or actual release, of the information can be called a terrorist act IMO. Regardless he is aiding terrorists. I vote terrorist... send him on a sunny vacation to GITMO until his execution date.

9 posted on 12/09/2010 6:07:49 AM PST by Never on my watch (This is a revolution d@mmit, we're going to have to offend SOMEbody! (Adams character - 1776))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ChrisBoundsTX
The Constitution extends protection to everybody, but it restricts privileges to citizens and those legally resident. That's why citizens get to vote and funny little foreign guys who are not citizens have to carry greencards or visas.

On the other hand, the First Amendment does not extend much beyond the United States ~ maybe 30 feet into Canada ~ no doubt the customs people there are used to America's gabbiness so they ignore it, but you go to Calgary and say "Assange should be executed", you can be arrested, tried, convicted and sent to prison for a very long time.

Calgary, BTW, is pretty liberal compared to the rest of Canada, so don't even think out loud about killing anybody or anything. THEY DON'T LIKE THAT.

Assange is out there in a world where virtually everybody doesn't recognize his right to publish this stuff, or any stuff. Even if he were in the United States he can be punished for being part of an Espionage Ring.

Apparently Assange has friends in the US willing to carry his water despite the fact they can be executed as spies (after suitable trial of course).

I think the only question in any of this is about ESPIONAGE, not about free speech or free press.

Neither Assange nor any of his funny little friends owned the data they are publishing. It's not their stuff. It's mine. And I don't want them or anybody else not authorized reading it.

10 posted on 12/09/2010 6:16:18 AM PST by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: ChrisBoundsTX

Libs don’t know what to do when a retard attacks the state department... fat butterballs in the walls of every country in the world selling out the underage prostitutes and a goat dinner fried in palm oil.

State Department are sell outs. Ass-boy is a traitor....


11 posted on 12/09/2010 6:24:07 AM PST by Porterville ( I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Porterville

Sorry, Ass-boy is a traitor to western culture.


12 posted on 12/09/2010 6:26:05 AM PST by Porterville ( I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Porterville

Libs don’t know what to do when a retard attacks the state department... fat butterballs in the walls of every country in the world selling out the USA for underage prostitutes and a goat dinner fried in palm oil.

State Department are sell outs. Ass-boy is a traitor.... to the western world (that’s better)


13 posted on 12/09/2010 6:27:40 AM PST by Porterville ( I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Porterville

I can’t confirm it but I believe Bill Clinton gave the OK for the use of child prostitutes in intell gathering.


14 posted on 12/09/2010 6:42:34 AM PST by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek
The state department personnel do whatever, whenever, where ever, they want.
15 posted on 12/09/2010 6:51:20 AM PST by Porterville ( I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: ChrisBoundsTX

Hey WikiLeaks! You’ll only be a “hero” when you show us the REALLY good stuff. bttt

Rush Limbaugh Wants Julian Assange To Find the Really Good Stuff
Glynnis MacNicol | Dec. 7, 2010, 10:05 AM | 440 |
http://www.businessinsider.com/rush-limbaugh-wants-julian-assange-to-find-obamas-birth-certificate-2010-12

If WikiLeaks TMZ ever becomes a reality maybe Rush could have his own segment. From yesterday’s radio show:

“Where are the WikiLeaks documents to prove 9/11 was inside job by George Bush and Dick Cheney? Let me ask you liberals, where are these cables?

“Where are the documents to prove Bush intentionally lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in order to invade the country?

Where is the WikiLeaks document, the State Department cable, whatever, that [Karl] Rove leaked Valerie Plame’s name to the media?

Where’s all this good stuff? ...

“Where are the WikiLeaks cables proving that the CIA invented AIDS? Where is Obama’s birth certificate? Where’s the real good stuff?

And how about all the hundreds of other left-wing lies we’ve been hearing about for years?

[Is] WikiLeaks covering up for the United States?”


16 posted on 12/09/2010 7:10:23 AM PST by Matchett-PI ( Sarah Palin / Marco Rubio - a "can't lose" ticket for 2012..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek
“He’s an anarchist scumbag.”

- Yes, but it is his actions and motives that matter here, not his ideology and this must be kept in mind.

Even Hermann Göring got a fair trial. Perhaps he didn't deserve it - as most of the victims of the Third Reich didn't get one - but it's just the way civilization works.

Even if other ways of practicing justice than lynching might seem mysterious.

17 posted on 12/09/2010 7:15:06 AM PST by WesternCulture
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ChrisBoundsTX
I don't know what the big deal is.

If Madeline Albright knew how to use the internet, she wouldn't have had to leave secret documents lying around to disappear.

And her communist deputy wouldn't have had to trouble himself getting the conference room bugged.

18 posted on 12/09/2010 7:29:57 AM PST by opbuzz (Right way, wrong way, Marine way)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ChrisBoundsTX
Hero or Terrorist?

Megalomaniac.

19 posted on 12/09/2010 7:43:42 AM PST by freespirited (This tagline dedicated to the memory of John Armor, a/k/a Congressman Billybob.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freespirited

...perhaps!


20 posted on 12/09/2010 8:52:20 AM PST by ChrisBoundsTX
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson